12 Lonely Negative Words

Are you disgusted, disgruntled and disheveled? Well, unfortunately you’re never going to be gusted, gruntled or sheveled. Disgusted, disgruntled and disheveled
are what you might call “lonely negatives.” They’re negative words
whose positive partners have vanished or never existed in the first
place.

1. Disgust

English adopted only the negative version, leaving us without the useful expression, ”That gusts me.”

2. Disheveled

(From the late Middle English word, now obsolete, 'dishevely,' which derives from Old French deschevelé, past participle of descheveler, based on chevel, 'hair,' from Latin capillus.
Originally it meant 'having the hair uncovered' and later it referred
to the hair itself, hanging loose, and so messy or untidy.)

You can be disheveled without ever being “sheveled.” It’s pronounced
/di-SHEH-vuhld/, not as you sometimes hear it, /dis-HEH-vuhld/.

3. Inscrutable

Inscrutable refers to "something that cannot be searched
into or found out by searching; unfathomable, entirely mysterious." But
you’ll search harder to find the word scrutable; it’s used mostly in opposition to inscrutable.

4. Ineffable

(Via French from Latin in- ‘not’ + effāri ‘to utter’)

Ineffable—something "that cannot be expressed or described
in language"—can breathe a lonely wordless sigh. Its partner doesn’t
come around much any more. Effable once meant "sounds or
letters, etc. that can be pronounced." It is used only rarely to mean
"that which can be, or may lawfully be, expressed or described in
words," or as a snickery double entendre:

She: Are you dumping me? What went wrong?
He: I can’t explain. It’s ineffable.
She: Are you saying I’m not f—able?

5. Disappoint

Disappoint was once was the negative of appoint. It meant
"to undo the appointment of; to deprive of an appointment, office, or
possession; to dispossess, deprive." It was used that way in 1489, but
by 1513, it was stretched to its present meaning: "to frustrate the
expectation or desire of (a person)." You wouldn’t know the two words
were once partners.

6. Indelible

You know about indelible ink and indelible memories, but when have
you heard of anything being “delible”? During the 17th and 18th
centuries the word delible, meaning "capable of being rubbed out or effaced" was used, but it’s gone without a trace. It was delible.

7. Impeccable

(From late Latin impeccābilis, from im- ‘not’ + peccāre, ‘to sin.’)

Although impeccable now means "adhering to the highest
standards" and we speak of impeccable manners or taste, originally it
meant "not capable of or liable to sin." These days, peccable is used only facetiously, as in this 1992 quote from the New York Times: “Its credentials are about as impeccable as you can find in the peccable atmosphere of Hollywood.”

8. Indolent

When it entered English in the 17th century, indolent meant
"causing no pain." Doctors spoke of an indolent tumor or ulcer. Maybe
some folks misinterpreted the meaning as "inactive," but somehow in the
18th century, indolent gained its current meaning in reference to people: "lazy or idle." The word dolent,
meaning "sorrowful or grieving," existed for a few centuries, but it’s
obsolete now and never meant the opposite of present-day indolent.

9. Indefatigable

An indefatigable person is "untiring; incapable of being wearied." The word defatigable, "capable of being wearied," exists, but it’s too beat to show up very much, leaving indefatigable pretty lonely.

10. Incessant

(Via Old French, from late Latin in- 'not’ + cessant- ‘ceasing’)

Incessant refers to something unpleasant that continues
without pause or interruption. Cessant was around briefly in the 17th
and 18th centuries, but it has ceased to appear these days.

11. Reckless

(From the Old English reccelēas, from the Germanic base reck, an archaic word meaning ‘care.’)

Reckless describes a person or the actions of a person who
acts without thinking or caring about the consequences. There never was a
word like reckful to serve as a positive counterpart to reckless, but reckless people have their fill of wrecks.

12. Disgruntled

Disgruntled is a ringer. This time the prefix “dis-“ is not a
negative, but an intensifier. If you’re disgruntled you’re extremely
gruntled. And what, pray tell, does it mean to be gruntled? “Gruntle”
was a diminutive of “grunt,” dating from around 1400, meaning "to utter a
little or low grunt." Later it came to mean "to grumble or complain."

Examples of AFFLUENTHis family was more affluent than most.<he is affluent and can afford to send his children to the best schools>The store catered to a mostly affluent clientele that was relatively price insensitive, so we could afford to pay our suppliers a premium for the very best fish.

Definition of RECALCITRANT1: obstinately defiant of authority or restraint 2a : difficult to manage or operate b : not responsive to treatment c : resistant <this subject is recalcitrant both to observation and to experiment — G. G. Simpson>

Examples of RECALCITRANT<the manager worried that the recalcitrant employee would try to undermine his authority><a heart-to-heart talk with the recalcitrant youth revealed that he had a troubled life at home>

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